LONDON: Meta’s new social media platform, Threads, has lost over 50 percent of its users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday.
In a recording leaked to Reuters, the Meta chief told staff that the struggling app would soon add new features in a bid to hold the attention of more than 150 million users against X, formerly Twitter.
The platform boasted more than 100 million users, most of whom had signed up via Instagram within days of the July 5 launch.
“Obviously, if you have more than 100 million people sign up, ideally it would be awesome if all of them or even half of them stuck around. We’re not there yet,” Zuckerberg told Meta staff.
Data from online traffic service SimilarWeb revealed that daily visits to Threads dropped from 49 million to 23.6 million within a week of the platform’s launch.
Similarly, market research firm Sensor Tower estimated that the percentage of daily active users on Threads plummeted by 70 percent since a peak on July 7.
Meta’s CEO said that the drop-off was “normal” and that his company was exploring new features and “retention-driving hooks” to boost engagement, Reuters reported.
Newly added features include integrating Threads posts into Instagram users’ feeds.
Threads this week also rolled out a “following” feed, allowing users to see the posts of accounts they follow instead of relying on algorithms.
Zuckerberg launched Threads in June to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with Twitter under its new owner Elon Musk.
